Legal Question in Business Law in California

auto lease modification

I leased an Audi. One of the lease

terms says I am responsible for

having a dealer stamp my

maintenance book and if I don't have

my car maintained I must pay $400

at lease end. When we signed we

asked if we could have the car

serviced someplace other than the

dealer and the salesman said yes.

We wrote N/A next to this lease term

and initialed it (it is on all copies of

the lease agreement). Is this

sufficient to void this item in the

lease agreement?


Asked on 8/05/08, 12:26 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: auto lease modification

I would think so; the dealer/lessor may come up with some lame defenses such as the salesman's lack of authority to modify the preprinted terms, or unclarity as to what N/A means or which term it applies to, but without either reading the lease itself, or being there at the signing to get an impression as to the salesman's apparent authority, or looking at the completed agreement to see how clear the intent of the initialing and "N/A" appear, I'd guess that you have an 80 to 90% chance of prevailing if this goes to small claims (which is an unpredictable forum anyway).

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Answered on 8/05/08, 1:26 pm
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: auto lease modification

Did the leasing agent also initial the change? If not, the dealer might try to deny having agreed to it. That will be a hard argument to win if the change is on the dealer's copies of the agreement.

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Answered on 8/05/08, 4:08 pm


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